Mended Life
by ZanureyZ
Summary: A back-story of how Babette, the little girl vampire from the dark brotherhood, first came to be what she is. With fire, red eyes and corpses, her innocent heart turns black.  This will probably be about three or four chapters long


"Daddy? Daddy, get up…" the little girl whined. "Daaaddyyy!"

"What, Babette?" he asked, sitting up out of his bed and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. When he saw his daughter, he gave a lazy, lopsided grin.

He then noticed it was still dark outside, and Masser and Secunda were still high in Aetherius, so something was wrong…

"Mommy says you need to get your sword and go outside right now." Babette said eyes wide and scared. She had no idea what was going on, but if anyone could fix it, it was her dad.

That was sure enough to wake him, and he jumped out of bed to grab his armor from the trunk near the door as well as a couple of swords.

Soon he was downstairs, searching for his wife, who was nowhere to be found.

"Where's mommy, honey?" he asked Babette.

"I don't know, she said something about monsters…" she started.

"Stay inside the house." He ran out the door and was met by the cold winds of Skyrim, and the sound of battle. Torches had been lit, as well as a couple of houses which were just about burned to the ground. He saw no monsters about, only people in worn leather armor who were fighting with rusted weapons.

"Hilga?" he shouted for his wife, afraid for what might have happened to her.

When he heard no answer, he ran towards the raging battle. Already he could see several of the village people lying on the ground dead, or close to it. Some had bite marks and scratches on them, visible through the torchlight.

When he got to the enemy, he swung, bringing them down. To his surprise, they turned to purple, glowing ashes which were unlike anything he'd ever seen, but heard of.

His questions were answered when another cutthroat turned to him, eyes glowing crimson and face wrinkled with unnatural age. The monster hissed at him, and bared it's over-sized canines, sharp as daggers.

Without a second thought, he raced to stab the vampire through the chest, but in a second it was gone. He turned around, but there was nothing there.

"Where'd it go?" One of the other villagers asked, who was answered when the vampire appeared at his neck, sucking the very life from his eyes.

The others screamed, and swung wildly, trying to hit any flesh they could find.

He'd managed to sever one of his hands, and the beast yelped in pain as dark, thick blood ran out of the wound. It was a lot different than human blood, he noted, and was much darker.

He used that moment to finish him off, and soon the vampire was lying on the ground with the rest of his kinsmen and the villagers.

"I hope that was all of them…" one of them commented, sad and grief-stricken.

"Dustin!" Hilga ran up and hugged her husband, tears and dirt streaming her face. She had obviously been fighting as well, for her hair and sword were sticky with the blood. "Is Babette safe?" she asked.

"Yes, she's inside the house."

"What?" she yelled, turning to run back to their home.

"Hilga, wait!" he yelled, realizing he'd made the mistake of leaving a child alone while there were vampires about.

Meanwhile, Babette wandered through the back door, keeping a small dagger tightly in both hands. She was only ten, but not naïve, and knew to protect herself from whatever was threatening their village. She wanted to find her parents, who had yet to return. Screams and shouts were all around her, but she was only focused on where she was going.

It was too dark at the moment, and she couldn't see the pathway very well. She'd unintentionally wandered away from the village and into the night, where there were shadows and wild animals lurking about.

And vampires.

She was searching about with wide eyes and terror welling up inside her. Babette turned to go back to the house, but was instead met by a tall, red-eyed female.

"Hello, little one."

xxx

Dustin and Hilga were searching frantically for their daughter, who wasn't in the house. They called her name several times, each louder than before.

Back down the stairs, Dustin noticed the back door slightly ajar, and went to open it. He went outside, Hilga following behind him.

This time they were quiet, and followed a small trail of footprints left in the shallow snow.

They led somewhat far away from the village, and where they ended was a pair of larger footprints, which were much less obvious, but still visible.

Then they heard voices.

"I think you'll make a perfect snack." The voice was Dunmer, and female. She sounded polite when saying it though, as if discussing the weather.

"What does that mean?" A smaller voice asked, but not sounding as scared as one might imagine, which proved for sure that it was Babette speaking.

"Well, to put it simply, I'm a vampire, and I have yet to try the blood of such a small, young child. I wonder if it is any different. So, allow me…"

Dustin had had enough, and soon he was yelling madly, cursing the vampire and stabbing at her with his sword.

She was quick and very smart, and soon Dustin was pinned against a boulder, legs kicking.

"You've interrupted my meal." She said dangerously, and crushed his neck with supernatural strength.

"Dustin!" Hilga yelled, her voice getting caught in her throat. She was in no position to fight back, and soon she as well was just a corpse next to her husband, glassy eyes staring into the night sky.

"Mommy, daddy!" Babette yelled, rushing towards them. "What did you do to them?" she yelled at the vampire, who seemed to be admiring her quick work.

"Don't fret child, I just put them to sleep," she lied. "Now, back to our prior conversation…"

Babette looked at her doubtfully, and back at her parents. She wanted to believe they would be okay, so she walked over to the vampire once more.

"Now, usually I just take what I want and leave, but you seem to have much ahead of you," the Dunmer said thoughtfully, "so maybe I should turn you _into_ a vampire instead. _That_ would be interesting." She rubbed her chin and thought for a moment.

"It's decided!" he vampire clapped her hands together and walked over to Babette.

"Wh-what?" she started, but was cut off when a hand grabbed her head and tilted it aside, revealing her neck.

Suddenly there was so much pain, she couldn't bear it and screamed. Her consciousness was lost.


End file.
